(pb; 2001)
From the back cover:
"Congratulations, Barry and Maureen: You've been approved by the Association and are encouraged to move into our exclusive gated community as soon as possible. Please be aware that we reserve the right to approve your décor, your landscaping, your friends and your job. All relationships with neighbors should be avoided. Any interference from the outside will not be tolerated. Any attempt to leave will be stopped. Any infraction of the rules could result in severe fines, physical punishment or death. Please send all other inquiries to the house on the hill. Preferably before dark. P.S. You're being watched. Sincerely, The Association."
Review:
The first quarter of The Association is good, well-written, character solid, with smart, semi-satirical touches of humor thrown into the mix. Somewhere between that first quarter and midway through, it becomes ridiculous - pet murders, and mutilated homeless people pop up, and everyone pretends like that's normal. Then, home invasions, audio and visual surveillance inside and outside the homes, "mysterious" disappearances and murders of residents and visitors, as well as overt threats of physical violence. . . and the residents of this gated community do don't anything until it's way too late. In short: this overly long novel suffers from a case of Plot Convenient Stupid People Move Into New Homes and Are Afraid to Leave, Despite Obvious/Repeated Threats to Their Lives.
Given the timing and location of the novel (2001, Utah), it feels like Little is making a quirky Grand Statement about the United States. While that ambition is admirable, especially with its aforementioned humor,The Association should have been written as a character-smart, plot-trimmed novella, not a full-length novel.
Good writer (I've read other works by Little), crappy novel.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
From the back cover:
"A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy, a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress, and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel. . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles."
Review:
All the elements, plot-twisty action and characters that made A Game of Thrones a great read structure and set the tone of this first sequel. This grim, bloody, whimsical and sometimes surprising (but always character-consistent) series continues to wow; it has made me excited to be a reader, in a way that I haven't been in a long time.
Worth owning, this - as is its source novel.
Followed by A Storm of Swords.
#
The events in Clash are the basis for the second season of the first HBO/cable series, A Game of Thrones. The series's first episode originally aired on April 17, 2011. HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth Season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
Holes For Faces, by Ramsey Campbell
(oversized pb; 2013: horror anthology)
From the back cover:
"Holes For Faces collects many of [Ramsey Campbell's] best tales from the first decade of this century. An attempt to avoid a haunted house leads into worse danger. The announcements at a railway station deal with stranger things than trains, and is that another railway station in the distance or a different kind of destination? A childhood game becomes a source of terror, and so does a radio quiz show. Even Christmas decorations may not be trusted, and beware of that Advent calendar! A hotel provides amenities you mightn't welcome, and a visit to a tourist attraction attracts an uninvited follower. A train journey may never end, unless it already has, and a visit to a hospital brings back more than memories. A myth about a horror film has unwanted consequences. There are angels you mightn't want to see too clearly, if that's what they are. And you'll have to decide if it's better to stay in the dark or see what's waiting there. . . One theme runs through all the stories: youth and age."
Overall review:
This is an uneven anthology from an otherwise good author (I've read, enjoyed other works by him). Here's why -
What I liked about it: Campbell is good at creating Old School horror/shivery moods (think Oliver Onions and M.R. James), so most, if not all of the stories in this collection are dread-effective in tone.
I also admire how Campbell utilized recurring symbols and elements, like trains, childhood memories, familial discord, Hitchcockian intrigue, etc. to thematically link said pieces into the aforementioned mood consistency.
What I didn't like about it: Many of the stories and characters were too long, too passive (action-wise) and too similar in structure and attitudes - almost to the point of being carbon copies of works that preceded them. There wasn't enough variation in his framing of his tales or diversity among his characters to make each of these stories burst with distinctive vigor. This makes Holes a sometimes interesting but often disappointing anthology.
This collection is worth checking out for a few bucks, or borrowing from the library. If you're into the older style of horror which puts a heavy emphasis on mood, like Campbell, Onions or James, this may very well be worth picking up for more than a few dollars.
Standout stories:
1.) "Holes For Faces": Childhood terrors, parental discord and a creepy Italian tour haunt a boy. Excellent, dread-suffusive work.
2.) "Getting It Wrong": An asocial, disgruntled cineaste (Eric Edgeworth) finds himself participating in a dark, strange game show where providing wrong answers can prove agonizing.
3.) "The Decorations": Sad, dark Xmas tale about a boy and his mentally unstable grandmother.
4.) "With the Angels": Creepy tale about two sisters - one of them a mother of three - visiting their dead grandmother's house.
5.) "Chucky Comes to Liverpool": An overprotective mother, obsessed with banning the Child's Play movies, brings about a real tragedy. Interesting, different story.
6.) "The Rounds": Islamophobia, media distortion, conspiracy theories and Hitchcockian intrigue build as a wary, heroic man tries to stop what appears to be a terrorist attack. Excellent, suspenseful.
7.) "The Long Way": An imaginative boy's fear of a spooky neighborhood plays out in a sad, sometimes terrifying manner. Good story, marred by a forced 'end on a spooky note' finish.
From the back cover:
"Holes For Faces collects many of [Ramsey Campbell's] best tales from the first decade of this century. An attempt to avoid a haunted house leads into worse danger. The announcements at a railway station deal with stranger things than trains, and is that another railway station in the distance or a different kind of destination? A childhood game becomes a source of terror, and so does a radio quiz show. Even Christmas decorations may not be trusted, and beware of that Advent calendar! A hotel provides amenities you mightn't welcome, and a visit to a tourist attraction attracts an uninvited follower. A train journey may never end, unless it already has, and a visit to a hospital brings back more than memories. A myth about a horror film has unwanted consequences. There are angels you mightn't want to see too clearly, if that's what they are. And you'll have to decide if it's better to stay in the dark or see what's waiting there. . . One theme runs through all the stories: youth and age."
Overall review:
This is an uneven anthology from an otherwise good author (I've read, enjoyed other works by him). Here's why -
What I liked about it: Campbell is good at creating Old School horror/shivery moods (think Oliver Onions and M.R. James), so most, if not all of the stories in this collection are dread-effective in tone.
I also admire how Campbell utilized recurring symbols and elements, like trains, childhood memories, familial discord, Hitchcockian intrigue, etc. to thematically link said pieces into the aforementioned mood consistency.
What I didn't like about it: Many of the stories and characters were too long, too passive (action-wise) and too similar in structure and attitudes - almost to the point of being carbon copies of works that preceded them. There wasn't enough variation in his framing of his tales or diversity among his characters to make each of these stories burst with distinctive vigor. This makes Holes a sometimes interesting but often disappointing anthology.
This collection is worth checking out for a few bucks, or borrowing from the library. If you're into the older style of horror which puts a heavy emphasis on mood, like Campbell, Onions or James, this may very well be worth picking up for more than a few dollars.
Standout stories:
1.) "Holes For Faces": Childhood terrors, parental discord and a creepy Italian tour haunt a boy. Excellent, dread-suffusive work.
2.) "Getting It Wrong": An asocial, disgruntled cineaste (Eric Edgeworth) finds himself participating in a dark, strange game show where providing wrong answers can prove agonizing.
3.) "The Decorations": Sad, dark Xmas tale about a boy and his mentally unstable grandmother.
4.) "With the Angels": Creepy tale about two sisters - one of them a mother of three - visiting their dead grandmother's house.
5.) "Chucky Comes to Liverpool": An overprotective mother, obsessed with banning the Child's Play movies, brings about a real tragedy. Interesting, different story.
6.) "The Rounds": Islamophobia, media distortion, conspiracy theories and Hitchcockian intrigue build as a wary, heroic man tries to stop what appears to be a terrorist attack. Excellent, suspenseful.
7.) "The Long Way": An imaginative boy's fear of a spooky neighborhood plays out in a sad, sometimes terrifying manner. Good story, marred by a forced 'end on a spooky note' finish.
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
From the back cover:
"In a land where summers can last for decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."
Review:
I'm not fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy novels, but this may be first book of this genre to fully immerse me in its vivid, often grim, sometimes kind and seductive world since I read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager. In fact, Game - for this middle-aged reader - may even trump Tolkien's work for its better editing and brutal realism.
I'm sure this review will add little to what others have already said, given my late entrance into Martin's created world, but to be clear: I loved and/or loathed the fully realized characters and their twisted, interwoven and intense histories; the action was raw, intriguing and unsparing; and the epic scope of Martin's world, as well as the "plots and counterplots" of its widely varied denizens absorbed this noir-minded (that is to say jaded) reader into its wild storylines.
One of my all-time favorite books - worth owning, this.
Followed by A Clash of Kings.
#
The first HBO/cable episode of A Game of Thrones aired on April 17, 2011. This series is still going - HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
**Two of Richard Cody's poems were published on the Strong Verse site
Richard Cody, whose microstories – Alice and Lisa - appeared on the Microstory A Week site, has published two excellent poems, Beware and The Reason Why, on the Strong Verse site.
Check these poems out!
Check these poems out!
Midnight at the Marble Arch, by Anne Perry
(hb; twenty-eighth novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.
"Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did the high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibitions?
"As an ordinary policeman, Pitt has once entered London's grand houses through the kitchen door. Now, as a guest in those same houses, can he find the steel in his soul to challenge the great men of the world with their crimes? The path to the truth takes him in deeply troubling directions, from the lofty world of international policies and finance to his own happy home, where his teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers."
Review:
A strongly (over?)stated sense of outrage highlights this timely and sometimes suspenseful mystery - it's timely because Midnight deals with financial malfeasance, political factions and rape, which has dominated many recent, real-world news cycles.
Of course, Perry keeps Midnight engaging as a work of fiction as well, with her trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing in this often-excellent series.
Solid entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - worth checking out from the library.
From the inside flap:
"The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.
"Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did the high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibitions?
"As an ordinary policeman, Pitt has once entered London's grand houses through the kitchen door. Now, as a guest in those same houses, can he find the steel in his soul to challenge the great men of the world with their crimes? The path to the truth takes him in deeply troubling directions, from the lofty world of international policies and finance to his own happy home, where his teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers."
Review:
A strongly (over?)stated sense of outrage highlights this timely and sometimes suspenseful mystery - it's timely because Midnight deals with financial malfeasance, political factions and rape, which has dominated many recent, real-world news cycles.
Of course, Perry keeps Midnight engaging as a work of fiction as well, with her trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing in this often-excellent series.
Solid entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - worth checking out from the library.
Friday, June 21, 2013
**One of my poems, Noir pan: road house, was published in Pink Litter
One of my mainstream-though-racy poems, Noir pan: road house, was published on the Pink Litter site. (Big thanks to Misty Rampart, who published it!)
Noir pan was inspired by actress/director Ida Lupino (1918 - 1995), specifically her work in the 1948 film Road House.
Please note that Pink Litter is a for-mature-readers site, so if you're under the age of eighteen you may want to skip this one.
However, if you are a legal adult who appreciates older films, sensuality and poetry, check this out!
Noir pan was inspired by actress/director Ida Lupino (1918 - 1995), specifically her work in the 1948 film Road House.
Please note that Pink Litter is a for-mature-readers site, so if you're under the age of eighteen you may want to skip this one.
However, if you are a legal adult who appreciates older films, sensuality and poetry, check this out!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
**Peter Baltensperger's Ambiguities in Black was published in Apocrypha Abstractions
Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another mainstream story published: Ambiguities in Black, in June 2013 issue of Apocrypha Abstractions.
Ambiguities, an atmospheric work, concerns a man searching for something - certain meanings, which relate to himself - on a particularly tumultuous night.
Check this story out!
#
*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.
Ambiguities, an atmospheric work, concerns a man searching for something - certain meanings, which relate to himself - on a particularly tumultuous night.
Check this story out!
#
*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Pretty in Ink, by Karen E. Olson
(pb; 2010: second book in the Tattoo Shop Mystery series)
From the back cover:
"After Brett [Kavanaugh] and company ink Sin City's newest drag queen stars, they're invited to an opening night at the Strip's glamorous Nylons and Tattoos show. An evening of glitter and dancing ends in disaster when a stranger with a queen of hearts tattoo fells Brittany Brassieres with a wayward champagne cork.
"Even though Britney recovers, she mysteriously dies soon after, and then another drag queen is found poisoned. Someone's targeting Vegas's fabulous femmes. And sharp-as-a-needle Brett must crack the case before the show's over for good.
Review:
Engaging characters and colorful settings highlight this often-fun read. As a mystery, though, Pretty is a failure - its villains, and, more importantly, the 'how and why they did it' is evident early on. Not only that, but interesting as Brett - the narrator - is, she's constantly scatterbrained and forgetful, to the point of seeming Plot Convenient Stupid at key parts of what was an otherwise enjoyable book.
Pretty isn't a terrible read, but it is disappointing. I understand that worthwhile mystery writers make their villains' crimes solvable by their readers, but it shouldn't be that easy.
Followed by Driven to Ink.
From the back cover:
"After Brett [Kavanaugh] and company ink Sin City's newest drag queen stars, they're invited to an opening night at the Strip's glamorous Nylons and Tattoos show. An evening of glitter and dancing ends in disaster when a stranger with a queen of hearts tattoo fells Brittany Brassieres with a wayward champagne cork.
"Even though Britney recovers, she mysteriously dies soon after, and then another drag queen is found poisoned. Someone's targeting Vegas's fabulous femmes. And sharp-as-a-needle Brett must crack the case before the show's over for good.
Review:
Engaging characters and colorful settings highlight this often-fun read. As a mystery, though, Pretty is a failure - its villains, and, more importantly, the 'how and why they did it' is evident early on. Not only that, but interesting as Brett - the narrator - is, she's constantly scatterbrained and forgetful, to the point of seeming Plot Convenient Stupid at key parts of what was an otherwise enjoyable book.
Pretty isn't a terrible read, but it is disappointing. I understand that worthwhile mystery writers make their villains' crimes solvable by their readers, but it shouldn't be that easy.
Followed by Driven to Ink.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, by Mary Roach
(hb; 2013: science/nonfiction)
From the inside flap:
From the inside flap:
"The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn't the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp we meet scientists tackle the questions no one else thinks of - or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbits and terrorists - who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.
"Like all of Mary Roach's books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies."
Review:
Fun, informative and quirky: Roach delves into the world of the human digestive tract and beyond, chronicling unexpected -- sometimes disconcerting -- results and the often unintentionally hilarious situations that come about. Roach is scientific, yet her writing is approachable for those outside the medical/scientific community. Also, her wit is chuckle-worthy.
This is a memorable and informative read - worth owning.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
All My Sins Remembered, by Joe Haldeman
(pb; 1977)
From the back cover:
"No creature in the galaxy is deadlier than man.
"Otto McGavin, one of twelve Prime Operators in the universe, worked for the clandestine arm of the trans-space peacekeeping agency as a ruthless guardian of alien rights. He traveled from planet to planet - his body encased in plastiflesh, his mind disguised by personality overlay - infiltrating bizarre alien cultures, surviving by raw instinct and violent assassination on exotic, bloodswept worlds.
"And always he returned to his original self - his conscience stabbed by the memory of all those he'd killed in the service of interstellar harmony."
Review:
Sins is an intriguing, episodic and full-of-action science fiction spy thriller, with a protagonist whose personal disintegration - as an individual - becomes more and more apparent as time goes by. McGavin, as a character, is relatable and sympathetic (for this reader, anyway), making the waste-no-words Sins a good read by an excellent author.
While reading this, I kept thinking that, with the right director and writer, this would make an excellent cinematic vehicle for Jason Statham, who has enough acting range to show believable emotional shifts, while maintaining his bad-assness.
From the back cover:
"No creature in the galaxy is deadlier than man.
"Otto McGavin, one of twelve Prime Operators in the universe, worked for the clandestine arm of the trans-space peacekeeping agency as a ruthless guardian of alien rights. He traveled from planet to planet - his body encased in plastiflesh, his mind disguised by personality overlay - infiltrating bizarre alien cultures, surviving by raw instinct and violent assassination on exotic, bloodswept worlds.
"And always he returned to his original self - his conscience stabbed by the memory of all those he'd killed in the service of interstellar harmony."
Review:
Sins is an intriguing, episodic and full-of-action science fiction spy thriller, with a protagonist whose personal disintegration - as an individual - becomes more and more apparent as time goes by. McGavin, as a character, is relatable and sympathetic (for this reader, anyway), making the waste-no-words Sins a good read by an excellent author.
While reading this, I kept thinking that, with the right director and writer, this would make an excellent cinematic vehicle for Jason Statham, who has enough acting range to show believable emotional shifts, while maintaining his bad-assness.
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